Adressing the Topic Once More

     Hey guys! How’s it going? I’m back to talk about our group’s topic about the justification of predominantly white characters in comics. A couple of days ago, I finished reading issues 1-8 of The New Teen Titans series. This comic series was created in the 80’s and was written and illustrated, respectively, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. The comic was very entertaining and fun to read. To give a basic summary, the New Teen Titans are formed and fight crime together against the demon Trigon and the Furious 5. Because of the intense scenes and amazing artwork,  I am planning to buy the next collection of issues (specifically numbers 8-16). As I was reading the comic, I noticed the small variation of races within the comic characters. The main comic characters that were racially different was Cyborg (African American), Starfire (alien) and Beast Boy aka Changeling (a green boy). The rest of the characters (which include Raven, Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and the enemies) are white.

     As always, there are always going to be some that state the comics like these are racist because of the lack of diversity. While I do agree that there is a lack of diversity in this comic and other similar to this, I argue that there is justification for having predominant white characters in comics. To support  my claim, I'll start off with some history. At the start of World War 2, many comic characters were predominantly white males kicking butt against Hirohito and Hitler. A lot of people looked to America as the “savior” of the world; because of this, white was associated with safety and American. Comics against Japanese were especially racist against the Japanese for how they were portrayed as ugly and evil. However, I state that it was during a time of national crisis. America was in a two front war. Comics helped rally the people to not be intimidated and help with the war effort. Comics after that were normally associated with what was happening during the time and also expressed opinions of the comic creators.

     As time passed on, comics were mainly dominated by white comic characters. This has been the case for many years. To many readers growing up reading comics, many were accustomed to having the comic characters predominantly white. With diversity slowly becoming integrated into the comic world, many of the old fans of comic series aren’t liking it. It doesn’t mean that they are racist. It’s just that they are used to having the tradition of white characters being predominantly white in comics; nothing is wrong with that.

      Tying this to the comic I read, I feel that this comic doesn’t not do anything that affects the reader in any way or form; it is an enjoyable read. The lack of diversity in this comic is justifiable. Because it was created in the 80’s, a time where there wasn’t much diversity in comics, it is justifiable for there to be predominant white characters. A lot of people are becoming more sensitive to small issues like this that really doesn't affect general views and such. Maybe these people aren't old school comic readers or even comic readers at all. Maybe they are the people who watch the movies based on the comics. Whatever the case may be, there is a justification for predominant characters in comics.